Cheltenham Festival
Cheltenham Festival 2024 – who is going to surprise?
As the highly anticipated Cheltenham Festival draws ever closer, there are bound to be some entries that shake up the market and set the crowds alight!
We preview a few runners below who have the potential to cause quite the stir at this year’s Cheltenham Festival.
Bet on Horse Racing with William Hill
State Man – Champion Hurdle, 12th March
Willie Mullins is known to take the Cheltenham Festival in his stride and holds the record for most winners across the four days, with ten. His prime entry in the Champion Hurdle is that of State Man, who is set to take on Nicky Henderson’s pride and joy, Constitution Hill. It is no secret to racing fans that Constitution Hill is an absolute freak of nature and has been heavily backed into 1/4 ante post. However, if there is a horse that could cause the biggest upset at this year’s Cheltenham Festival, State Man is well up there.
State Man has suffered one loss since the beginning of 2022, which was in this race last year when Constitution Hill hacked up and won by nine lengths. However, since then, State Man has had an immaculate spree of wins, most recently picking up a convincing win against Bob Olinger in the Irish Champion Hurdle at the Dublin Racing Festival at Leopardstown. Constitution Hill on the other hand has been lightly raced, with only two runs since his Cheltenham victory last year, as Nicky Henderson seems to have wrapped him up in cotton wool having pulled him from various fixtures in the past few months due to the cold temperatures.
So, there could be value in State Man at 11/4 to take advantage of Constitution Hill’s slight absence from the track in recent months, and there’s no doubt this is the race that Mullins has been looking at for State Man to finally knock Nicky Henderson’s trophy horse off his perch.
Elixir De Nutz – Queen Mother Champion Chase, 13th March
Widely considered to be a two-horse race this year, The Queen Mother Champion Chase is set to be a contest between the two titans El Fabiolo and Jonbon. However, Elixir De Nutz trained by Joe Tizzard shocked racing fans all over when beating Jonbon by a neck in the rearranged Clarence House Chase at Cheltenham in January.
Elixir De Nutz was the joint-outsider with Nube Negra at 22/1 who beat him at Kempton in December, so was certainly considered to be worse-off from the two. However, jockeyed by Freddie Gingell (who has never lost in the saddle on this horse), Elixir De Nutz was steered to victory in a race that was one of the biggest surprises this year. As a result, Jonbon has drifted out to 3/1 for the Queen Mother, with El Fabiolo the horse the beat at 2/5, who has only suffered one loss since changing trainer to Willie Mullins back in 2021.
There will be plenty of value at 14/1 for Elixir De Nutz to be in with a squeak at placing in the Queen Mother, coming off the back of a fabulous run at the course last time, so should be full of confidence to run a similar race. Jumping will be key and if Jonbon continues to make errors, Elixir De Nutz’s flawless leaps could set him apart from the rest.
Kargese – Triumph Hurdle, 15th March
The Danny and Willie Mullins show at the Dublin Racing Festival kicked off in spectacular fashion when Dancing City, Kargese, and Il Etait Temps won the first three races on Saturday. Kargese is a horse which Willie Mullins took on in November of last year and has since run twice, with a first and second place to his name.
Kargese’s main challenger in the Triumph Hurdle will be another of Nicky Henderson’s, Sir Gino. Sir Gino has now won three of three over hurdles, with a convincing 10 length win to Burdett Road in the juvenile hurdle at Cheltenham Trials Day in January and is definitely the horse to beat come March. Although a short price at 7/2, Kargese managed to get the better of favourite Storm Heart at Leopardstown and has now cemented himself with a chance of defying the odds at the Cheltenham Festival.
At 6/1 Kargese is the second favourite alongside Majborough to take on Sir Gino and given that Willie Mullins has been the winning trainer in the past two iterations of this race with both Vauban and Lossiemouth, there’s hope that the third time’s a charm.
Hewick – Cheltenham Gold Cup, 15th March
Our final horse to keep an eye on for the upcoming festival is that of Hewick, trained by John “Shark” Hanlon who had one of the runs of the year in 2023, beating Paul Nicholls’ Bravemansgame as well as Willie Mullins’ Allaho in the King George VI Chase at Kempton on Boxing Day.
Hewick immediately became a fan favourite after that run at 12/1, having come from last to first as the front two dealt with Shishkin unseating Nico de Boinville at the penultimate fence. Hewick is noticeably smaller in stature than his competitors but certainly makes up for it in heart and truly rose to the occasion in the King George. When you talk about horses that turn up for the big events, there is no greater race than the Cheltenham Gold Cup, the headline race of the festival, and Hewick, should he build on prior success, could be an extremely good each way shout at 14/1.
The main obstacle in Hewick’s way is Galopin Des Champs, who won the Gold Cup last year for Willie Mullins and is the short-priced favourite at 10/11 from Fastorslow at 4/1, L’Homme Presse and Gerri Colombe at 8/1, and Shishkin the only other ahead of Hewick at 9/1. There’s no doubt that racing fans will be eyeing up Shark Hanlon’s treasure horse to shock the world yet again, so he is certainly one to watch ahead of the festival.
